The Hunter's Alpha

34 Unfinished

Devon

The Midnight Cafe looked like any other coffee shop. It was in a nondescript building amongst other small businesses on a relatively quiet downtown street. I parked and paid the meter before strolling inside. There was a black haired lady at the counter—Lydia, I could only assume—and she smiled cheerfully as I entered.

"What can I get for you?" she asked.

"Just a coffee, one cream."

She grinned at me. "Ah, the no nonsense type. Coming right up."

I thanked her as she handed me my coffee. She had an impressive talent for passing as a human while still using her abilities to maximize her efficiency, and I could respect that. I could tell she was a vampire because of the fluidity of movement and the lack of scent, but if she had been walking across the street and I were not paying attention, I could certainly miss her in a crowd.

"Keep the change. I was actually hoping to speak to Dan."

Her whole demeanor changed. She glanced at the couple of humans scattered around her shop and narrowed her eyes at me. "I don't want any trouble."

"I was actually hoping for the opposite of trouble, ma'am."

She inspected me for another long moment, before relenting. "Just a moment." She disappeared into the back and returned a moment later. "He'll be down soon."

I took a seat and waited for the vampire to arrive.

I didn't wait long.

"Oh. It's you," he said, looking as unimpressed as he sounded. Well, I hadn't expected fanfare.

"Nice to see you," I lied. I understood he was an unavoidable part of my mate's life, but I didn't have to like him.

"What did you want?"

"Just to talk." I cast a glance around at the oblivious humans. "Somewhere private."

He frowned but nodded. "Fine. You can come upstairs."

He sounded unhappy with his own invitation, but I quickly took him up on it. I followed the vampire through a back door and up a staircase so narrow my shoulders could almost brush both sides.

The door opened into the kitchen of an apartment, small, clean, and nondescript from what I could see, and he offered me a seat at a small kitchen table. I took it, and he sat across from me. Like the vampire himself, the room had little scent other than the smell of dust and other objects in the room, and the slightest hint of my mate's scent underneath everything. She had been here occasionally, probably only a few days before she had left to come back to me, and I had to push aside a pang of jealousy at the idea.

Dan spoke before I could begin. "So, if this is about Amber, I'm not going to stay away from her just because you order me to. Sure, she's hot—" Was he deliberately trying to provoke my wolf? "—but we're nothing besides close friends."

I exhaled. "I didn't come here to stop you and Amber from seeing each other."

"Really?" He looked skeptical.

"I'd be stupid to put more restrictions on her than absolutely necessary for her safety."

"That's surprisingly reasonable."

"Is it really? She's torn between wanting independence and me, I'm not about to make that choice harder." No matter what my wolf would prefer.

Dan chuckled. "It's just not the werewolf stereotype. Aren't you supposed to be irrationally overprotective?"

I frowned at his condescending amusement, and reminded myself that he was probably resentful about my former relationship with Megan. "Of course I want to protect her, but I can't lock her in a vault. I want her happy, too. I did let her go against my every instinct."